4.  The applicant was born in 1939 and lives in Zaporizhzhya.
5.  On 25 April 1993 the applicant's son, who was a Russian national and served in the Russian Army, died because of an accident while on duty. The Russian State Military Insurance Company paid his wife and child, who resided in Russia, the insurance settlement to which they were entitled under the Russian law.
6.  In 2001 the applicant lodged several requests with the Zaporizhzhya Regional Enlistment Office and the Ukrainian State Insurance Company “Oranta” (the “Oranta Company”), seeking the insurance settlement allegedly due to him under the Treaty on Payment of Pensions to Military Servicemen and Their Families and on State Insurance of Military Servicemen of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States of 15 May 1992 (the “CIS Treaty of 15 May 1992”, see Relevant domestic law), which had entered into force in respect of Ukraine on that day. By letters of 9 July and 1 August 2001 respectively, the Oranta Company and the Enlistment Office rejected the applicant's requests on the ground that his son had served in the Russian Armed Forces and, thus, the applicant was not entitled to receive an insurance settlement under Ukrainian law.
7.  In 2002 the applicant sought the insurance settlement by the Russian State Military Insurance Company. By letter of 27 September 2002, that company refused his request and informed the applicant that the amounts due to him because of the death of his son were to be paid by the Oranta Company pursuant to the CIS Treaty of 15 May 1992.
8.  In December 2001 the applicant instituted proceedings in the Komunarskyy District Court of Zaporizhzhya against the Oranta Company, seeking the recovery of the insurance settlement which the latter allegedly had to pay him because of his son's death. He also sought compensation for non-pecuniary damage. The applicant argued that he was entitled to receive the insurance settlement in respect of his son on the ground that he, the applicant, resided on the territory of Ukraine, which had undertaken, pursuant to the CIS Treaty of 15 May 1992, to make such payments if a military serviceman had died while on duty in the Armed Forces of one of the CIS Member States.
9.  On 10 April 2002 the court ruled against the applicant. This judgment was upheld by the Zaporizhzhya Court of Appeal on 18 July 2002 and the Supreme Court on 8 January 2003.
10.  The courts found that under Ukrainian law the applicant was not entitled to receive the insurance settlement payable in similar cases to the relatives of Ukrainian military servicemen. The courts held that according to the CIS Treaty of 15 May 1992, read in conjunction with the decision of the Economic Court of the Commonwealth of Independent States (the “CIS Economic Court”) of 20 March 1997, such a payment should have been made by the Russian Federation, in the Armed Forces of which his son had served.
11.  In 2002 the applicant instituted proceedings in the Zhovtnevyy District Court of Zaporizhzhya against the Zaporizhzhya Regional Enlistment Office, seeking the recovery of a special pension, which he was allegedly entitled to receive under the Law of Ukraine on Social and Legal Protection of Military Servicemen and Their Families of 20 December 1991 (the “Law of 1991”), read in conjunction with the provisions of the CIS Treaty of 15 May 1992, because of his son's death. He relied on the same reasons as in respect of his claim against the Oranta Company.
12.  On 17 October 2002 the court ruled against the applicant, finding that he was not entitled to receive the pension under Ukrainian law, since his son had been a Russian national and had served in the Russian Armed Forces.
13.  On 6 November 2002 the applicant lodged an appeal with the same court.
14.  On 7 November 2002 the court invited the applicant to rectify certain shortcomings in his appeal by 25 November 2002. In particular, the court noted that the appeal did not contain the correct names of the parties, reasons for challenging the judgment of 17 October 2002, or an exact formulation of the applicant's request.
15.  On 20 November 2002 the applicant lodged with the court the corrected version of his appeal, in which the opposite party was named as the Zaporizhzhya Regional Enlistment Office. As regards the reasons for his disagreement with the judgment of 17 October 2002, the applicant stated that the first-instance court had wrongly interpreted and applied specific provisions of the Law of 1991 and that it had disregarded the guarantees contained in the CIS Treaty of 15 May 1992. He requested that the Zaporizhzhya Court of Appeal quash the impugned judgment and adopt a new decision on the merits of his claim.
16.  On 28 November 2002 the Zhovtnevyy District Court declared the applicant's appeal inadmissible. Referring to the applicant's appeal of 6 November 2002, the court stated that the applicant had failed to make the necessary corrections to it by the deadline set by the court. The applicant was sent back both versions of his appeal along with a copy of the decision of 28 November 2002 by the court.
17.  On 6 December 2002 the applicant lodged with the same court an appeal against the decision of 28 November 2002. The applicant requested its annulment on the ground that the Zhovtnevyy District Court, deciding on the admissibility of his appeal against the judgment of 17 October 2002, had not taken into account the corrected version of his appeal lodged with that court on 20 November 2002.
18.  In his appeal of 6 December 2002 the applicant cited the parts of his appeal of 20 November 2002 that contained the reasoning for and the formulation of his request.
19.  In a cover letter accompanying his appeal of 6 December 2002 the applicant stated that he annexed three copies of that appeal, copies of his appeals of 6 and 20 November 2002, and copies of the judgment of 17 October 2002 and the decisions of 7 and 28 November 2002.
20.  On 6 December 2002 the Zhovtnevyy District Court found that the applicant's appeal of the same day did not comply with the procedural formalities. In particular, it held that the appeal was directed against the decision of 28 November 2002 and the judgment of 17 October 2002 at the same time and that it did not contain sufficient reasoning or a list of annexed documents. The court invited the applicant to rectify the shortcomings of his appeal by 20 December 2002.
21.  On 18 December 2002 the applicant lodged with the Zhovtnevyy District Court an appeal against its decision of 6 December 2002. On 10 January 2003 the Zaporizhzhya Regional Court of Appeal held that the latter decision could not to be appealed against and refused to consider the applicant's appeal.
22.  On 27 January 2003 the Zhovtnevyy District Court declared the applicant's appeal against the decision of 28 November 2002 inadmissible on the ground that the applicant had failed to rectify the shortcomings indicated in its decision of 6 December 2002.
23.  The applicant did not appeal against the decision of 27 January 2003.